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NEWS Not again... spy plane unplanned landing in adversary nation

Pags

N/A
pilot
I'm no expert on Open Skies but the flights are flown by Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) to monitor treaty compliance (think nuclear disarmament). The flights aren't "spy" flights but known and agreed to overflights per signed international treaties.
 

Brett327

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
I predict this will be a non-event. It's Open Skies - what can/can not be done by the aircraft is highly regulated/scrutinized per the treaty language. Both sides know exactly what kind of collection gear is aboard and the resolution of the sensors permitted is already generations behind current technology. Open skies is kind of a proforma relic of the Cold War.
 

Uncle Fester

Robot Pimp
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Super Moderator
Contributor
OST aircraft aren't 'spy planes'. And they stage out of the other nation's airfields anyway - usually military fields. It's the airplane equivalent of treaty compliance ground verification inspection teams.

Put it another way: this is the equivalent of a ICBM inspection team's truck breaking down. All parties know when OST jets are flying, what's aboard, and when they're flying.

NB: I'm pretty sure according to journalists there are only three kinds of military aircraft anyway...'fighter jets', 'cargo planes' and 'spy planes'.
 

nittany03

Recovering NFO. Herder of Programmers.
pilot
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
NB: I'm pretty sure according to journalists there are only three kinds of military aircraft anyway...'fighter jets', 'cargo planes' and 'spy planes'.
And all of the aircrew are "pilots."
 

Flash

SEVAL/ECMO
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
I'm no expert on Open Skies but the flights are flown by Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) to monitor treaty compliance (think nuclear disarmament). The flights aren't "spy" flights but known and agreed to overflights per signed international treaties.

OST aircraft aren't 'spy planes'....

As other folks have already said OC-135's fly our missions as part of the Open Skies Treaty. I believe they usually have observers on board from a variety of nations to include the country they are flying over, and they often fly in and out of the country they overflying. So this plane may have been flying in and out Russia with Russians on board IIRC.

And they have the same function as spy planes, just without the secret part.
 

Pags

N/A
pilot
There's also navy guys at DTRA. A buddy from my first squadron ended up there on his disassociated tour. He went on the flights but not as a pilot.
 

Flash

SEVAL/ECMO
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
There's also navy guys at DTRA. A buddy from my first squadron ended up there on his disassociated tour. He went on the flights but not as a pilot.

There is a member of the board, an infrequent poster, who was at DTRA and flew on the OC-135 a few times so it is not an unusual place to go as a Navy guy.
 

zippy

Freedom!
pilot
Contributor
One of my current co-workers did a tour at Open Skies... The Russians play a lot of games- no wonder they're making allegations that the malfunction was a ruse.
 

sevenhelmet

Low calorie attack from the Heartland
pilot
Based on what I read, it was an open skies flight that took off from a Russian airfield. It had a landing gear issue (unsafe gear retraction maybe?) and returned to the same place it took off from.

There was also apparently a Russian observer on the plane. The Open Skies flights aren't exactly secret.

Click bait.
 
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Treetop Flyer

Well-Known Member
pilot
Based on what I read, it was an open skies flight that took off from a Russian airfield. It had a landing gear issue (unsafe gear retraction maybe?) and returned to the same place it took off from.

There was also apparently a Russian observer on the plane. The Open Skies flights aren't exactly secret.

Click bait.
The article claims they flew in a different direction than planned and landed at a different field 1600 miles away. That's what seems to have gotten Russian panties twisted.
 

danpass

Well-Known Member
OST aircraft aren't 'spy planes'. And they stage out of the other nation's airfields anyway - usually military fields. It's the airplane equivalent of treaty compliance ground verification inspection teams.

Put it another way: this is the equivalent of a ICBM inspection team's truck breaking down. All parties know when OST jets are flying, what's aboard, and when they're flying.

NB: I'm pretty sure according to journalists there are only three kinds of military aircraft anyway...'fighter jets', 'cargo planes' and 'spy planes'.
They ALWAYS forget the 'weather balloon'.


AXjcx.jpg
 

Uncle Fester

Robot Pimp
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Based on what I read, it was an open skies flight that took off from a Russian airfield. It had a landing gear issue (unsafe gear retraction maybe?) and returned to the same place it took off from.

There was also apparently a Russian observer on the plane. The Open Skies flights aren't exactly secret.

The article claims they flew in a different direction than planned and landed at a different field 1600 miles away. That's what seems to have gotten Russian panties twisted.

They had some sort of an unsafe gear indication after takeoff. They landed at another Russian field to drop off the Russian observers, then flew on to Japan to figure out the problem. However, the Russians are hardwired to see everything as a conspiracy or sneak attack. Paranoia is in their national character.
 
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